Vesa Turunen

''December 27th, 2005 - ...Lauri Ojamaa had the two goals for Estonia, but the Swedish defense was stellar and Daniel Larsson made 17 saves in the easy win.

''In Group C, a potential gold medal contender surfaced at the Pacific Coliseum as Finland ripped Norway 7-1. Captain Vesa Turunen had a hat trick and assisted on another goal, while defensemen David Hautamaki and Tapio Leppaketo contributed with three assists each. Peter Sarparanta made 21 saves in goal for Team Finland, but his shutout bid was spoiled at 18:34 of the third period when Erik Cronstedt scored on a deflection of a shot from defenseman Vegar Sandstedt. Finland head coach Marko Parnela has been fielding harsh criticism from the Finnish media and hockey brass for naming the 16-year-old Turunen as his captain, but stands firmly. "Vesa is a once in a lifetime player," said Parnela when asked about the young centerman, "He has skill and leadership qualities unlike any player of his age in the world. I hope this will be a showcase of what he can do, and what my team can do..."

''December 31st, 2005 - Finland 6, Germany 2: Six different players scored for the undefeated Finns as they finished up group play in spectacular form. Vesa Turunen was one of the goal scorers and added an assist on a goal by Hannu Setanen, where the winger split two defenders before putting a wrist shot over the outstretched glove of Christoph Schutz. Schutz looked shaky like he did in a 4-3 loss to Latvia, allowing Setanen's goal along with goals by Esa Oksanen, Santeri Raivonen and Antero Ansikorpi within the first ten minutes. His counterpart, Kimmo Hortonen, appeared a lot stronger as he filled in for the injured Peter Sarparanta, turning away 26 shots in the victory. "We're playing good hockey," said captain Turunen, who leads the championships with five goals and nine points, "and it couldn't be at a better time going into eliminations. Everyone in the room is confident that we can beat anyone, anytime if we play how we're accustomed to..."''

''January 3rd, 2006 - Finland 5, United States 3: Tapio Leppaketo scored three minutes into the third period to break a 3-3 deadlock as Team Finland advances to the gold medal game, where they will face the hosts from Canada. The Americans came close to tying the game later in the period, but Bobby Ryan hit the nearside goalpost after tucking a hard shot between Kimmo Hortonen's pads. They would have several more good opportunities, but Vesa Turunen would seal the deal with an empty-net goal with seconds to play. That would be the only shot Turunen was credited for as he was hounded all game by David Edwards, his teammate with the AJHL's Ocean City Dragons. "(Playing with Turunen) was an advantage," said Edwards, who also had a goal and an assist, "but V.T.'s a handful around the net and when he has the puck. Give him some time and he'll end up becoming the ultimate power forward..."''

''January 5th, 2006 - Canada 3, Finland 2(SO): In arguably the tightest played game in the tournament, the Canadians squeaked out a 3-2 win in the shootout to take their second consecutive championship in front of a sold-out GM Place. Blake Comeau and Kyle Chipchura scored in regulation for Canada, while Vesa Turunen scored the two goals for Team Finland, the second with 34 seconds left in the third period to nod the game up at 2. However, his shootout attempt went off the crossbar after beating Justin Pogge with a move, pulling the puck back and firing it over his right shoulder. And while the Canadians celebrated, the Finns went to console their captain as he lay distraught in the left circle. Turunen, who led the tournament with 9 goals and 17 points, was named the tournament's MVP, but it was of little consolation to him...''

Name: Vesa Turunen Gender: Male Age: 17 Grade: 11th School: Franklyn Homeroom: Mr. Dolph Hobbies and Interests: Hockey, music (specifically metal), playing guitar, mountain biking

Appearance: Vesa Turunen is one of the bigger kids in his school; at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he looks down on most of his classmates with somewhat light brown eyes. He has a scar located under his right eye about two inches in length, which is one of two noticeable features. The other is his long blonde hair that comes down past his shoulders to the top of his back, which is something that he is especially proud of. His build can be described as muscular, though he does not overdo it to the extent of a bodybuilder (or some of the guys on the football team). For clothes, he usually wears t-shirts of his favorite heavy metal bands, button-down casual shirts or hockey jerseys of his favorite NHL players, loose-fitting blue jeans and casual dress boots (ala Doc Martens).

Biography: Vesa's story begins in his native Finland, having spent his entire life living in a suburb near Helsinki. The middle of three children born to a middle-class family, he showed promise as he was a straight-A student and had a mastery of three other languages (German, Russian and Swedish) as well as English and his native Finnish. In being accepted into the foreign exchange program before he was supposed to enter the 11th grade, he beat out more than 5,000 other students for one of twenty-five positions...and in being one of the top ten, he was chosen to go to a pre-selected area in America. He is currently living with a family of Finnish descent in New Jersey, which is the reason he is attending Franklyn High.

But as soon as he arrived in the States, things began to go downhill for Vesa. He went into a severe depression, often having feelings of homesickness and openly desired to his adoptive family to return back to Finland. The only things he has to cope with it are the two things he loves the most: playing hockey and heavy metal. Vesa was the captain of Team Finland in the junior world championships held in Vancouver and surprised everyone by making it to the championship game. The Finns lost in a shootout to the hosts from Canada...to which Vesa took personally because he was the last man to shoot and his attempt hit the crossbar and bounced away. The shame in missing that shot and a chance at bringing glory to his homeland lingered and was also a contributing factor in his depression. After the junior worlds, another surprise befell Vesa as the Minnesota Wild made him their first-round draft pick, citing the dominating performance and enormous potential he had while beating back critics of the move.

Vesa had plans to start a band with a couple of his friends back in Finland as he was an aspiring guitarist who worshipped the premier metal bands of Europe. But his favorite by far were the native sons of Stratovarius; he wanted so badly to be the next Timo Tolkki that he practiced whenever he had finished his studies and hockey practice, often well into the night. He still plays and would like to try and form a band with anyone he meets at FHS and is musically inclined. Overall, Vesa is just like any other teenager struggling to make the transition to adulthood; he has his good days and his bad days. But his case is different...with everything he ever knew back in Finland and the potential for superstardom looming in the distance, the added pressure might be too much for him to handle.

Advantages: Obviously, Vesa's size and strength is a valuable asset, though he is also fearless and shows relatively little vulnerability to pain. Vesa also has superior endurance and eyesight, and is also an excellent marksman(as a result of partaking in biathlons in Finland with his family).

Disadvantages: Vesa can be hard to understand sometimes as English is not his first language and he speaks with a prominent accent. The fearlessness that is one of his biggest assets can also be his downfall as he sometimes thinks with his heart (and/or his balls) before his head and gets himself into serious trouble.

Number: Male Student No. 23

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Designated Weapon: Diver's Knife Conclusions: B23 is certainly a big guy. Perhaps he'll be able to throw his weight around in the SOTF ACT. He doesn't have to worry about the pressures of stardom anymore, though, because now he's got the opportunity to become famous in the ACT!

'The above biography is as written by Croco. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
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Threads
''The various threads that contained Vesa. In order from first to finish.''
 * International Incident
 * Live for Him
 * Rebirth
 * What Do You...?
 * I Do Not Like Thee, Mr. Danya!
 * A Brewing Storm
 * No Rest for the Weary

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Vesa Turunen. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''